Clinician: Mmm… So you felt angry because you saw him talking to another girl. Was that you’re initial sight of him when you saw him talking to another girl? (Supportive sound, empathic echo, elaboration, reflection of affect, open-ended question)
Clinician: Tell me more. (Elaboration, prompting)
Clinician: It sounds like you were probably feeling a little jealous. (Reflection of affect, validation, labeling affect)
Clinician: A lot of people would feel that way. Was there more to your weekend that you wanted to talk about? (Universalizing, elaboration, prompting, empathy, open-ended question)
Clinician: Yeah. How do you feel right now? (Supportive sound, checking-in)
Clinician: It’s very hard to lose you’re significant other and then see him with another person but I’m glad that you’re feeling more relaxed now. (Empathy, validation, reflection of affect)
Clinician: Mmmm, what do people say about you coming to talk to me? (Supportive sound, exploring influence of others, tried-and-true question, can be misconstrued as tangential questioning)
Clinician: Sounds like many people in your life have (cleared my throat) have umm…some ideas about you coming to see me. What are you’re thoughts about that? (Summarizing, reflection, open-ended question, eliciting additional feelings, prompting)
Clinician: Is the direction we’re going in okay with you? (Checking in, tried-and-true question, client as the driver)
Clinician: Okay (supportive sound)
Clinician: Wow! Sounds great! You see, despite your recent experiences you still manage to do well in school (affirming client’s strengths, validation of accomplishment, empathy, supportive sound)
Clinician: Mmm…Okay, ummm. Let’s continue talking about your loss of you’re boyfriend (refocusing, supportive sound)
Clinician: We haven’t talked about how you’ve been handling you’re feelings of sadness (initiating a new topic, prompting, elaboration of affect)
Clinician: Does this baggage you’re referring to have to follow you around? (underling, reflection of metaphor, exploration of theme)
Clinician: Where do you think this baggage really comes from? (Exploration and elaboration, inner circle talk, open-ended question)
Clinician: I see…Talk to me about that. (Supportive sound, elaboration, prompting)
Clinician: So you’re feeling like your boyfriend reminds you of when your father used to…..make you feel like you weren’t important(Reflection of feelings, paraphrasing, exploration of transference)
Clinician: So you can’t control you’re attitude huh. (Reflection, underling, prompting, exploration of internal locus of control)
Clinician: Are you saying you haven’t really tried? (Underling, problematic type of questioning).
Clinician: Earlier you were talking about how your boyfriend reminds you of your dad…(refocusing, promoting, exploration of transference)
Clinician: Tell me… How do you think that all ties into with your attitude? (Elaboration, prompting, open-ended question)
Clinician: It sounds like this attitude your referring to may be a way to protect your feelings. (Underling, reflection,
Clinician: Yeah, like that it hurts you. (Supportive sound, reflection, empathic echo)
Clinician: You know, anger usually comes right after hurtful feelings and the attitude may be a way to cope with those feelings. (Exploring affect and behavior, labeling)
Clinician: How would you like things to be different? (Future oriented question, prompting, and empathy)
Clinician: Yeah, I understand…Tell me, what else happens when things do get to you (supportive sound, elaboration, paraphrasing)
Clinician: Mmmm..So you cry, you yell, you throw things or do stupid things. (Supportive sound, dot-dot-dot reflection, reflection of pattern)
Clinician: So there is more to your weekend. (Underlining, elaboration)
Clinician: Mmm. So you saw your ex, Eric with that girl and you started to flirt around with other guys and then…(supportive sound, reflection, summarizing, prompting)
Clinician: so seeing Eric with another girl hurt you. and then you felt a little jealous… which in turn made you angry… and in order to cope you decided to get back at him by trying to make him feel jealous and he didn’t pay mind to you. Then it sounds like you wound up feeling a little guilty. Does that make sense to you?(paraphrasing, reflecting with affect, checking in, clarifying)
Clinician: Okay, let’s revisit the parallel you made between your dad and your boyfriend. (supportive sound, refocusing on theme)
Clinician: Ex-boyfriend. Did losing your ex-boyfriend remind you of losing your father? (Underlining, addressing transference, could be misconstrued as empathic failure, open-ended question)
Clinician: Do you mean he didn’t physically walk out on you? (Exploration, open-ended question, problematic question if client not ready to explore)
Clinician: Yeah. What are your thoughts on that? (Supportive sound, empathy, prompting, open-ended question)